In former times the word folklore wasn’t automatically connected to drunken Finnish trolls – these times the mixture of extreme Metal and traditional folklore is considered as a dangerous experiment by the majority of the extreme Metal scene. The Norwegian ASMEGIN are building a bridge to the mid 90s and hopefully there are still enough Voices readers which can appreciate an album which is worth to be mentioned in one sentence with the cult act STORM. The second ASMEGIN release “Arv” has been recorded under extreme time pressure but the band is releasing an impressive album by successfully fusing the dark side of folklore with rough mid-tempo (Black) Metal. The first 2 songs are not completely representative for the whole album – because they are more than just ‘touched’ by the above mentioned STORM – but “Arv” as whole is offering a lot more and it’s really a pleasure to listen to the album several times and still discover further layers. The album has its best moments when the band connects their basis musical structure with Advantgarde influences (‘Gengangeren’) and parallels to SOLEFALD are becoming obvious. I really hope that we don’t have to wait too long for further ASMEGIN material because “Arv” is one of the rare Metal albums with folklore influences and not the other way around. www.napalmrecords.com, www.asmegin.com